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So if you consider me a partner, accept him as you would me. And if he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it--not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self. Yes, brother, may I have joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. Since I am confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. - Philemon 1:17-21 HCSB

A king once had a wise steward who he placed in charge of the royal treasury. It was such an important position…  ( Click for more )

"Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?" Now, the LORD of Hosts says this: "Think carefully about your ways: You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough to be satisfied. You drink but never have enough to become drunk. You put on clothes but never have enough to get warm. The wage earner puts his wages into a bag with a hole in it." The LORD of Hosts says this: "Think carefully about your ways. Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house. Then I will be…  ( Click for more )

I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all the residents of Jerusalem. I will cut off from this place every vestige of Baal, the names of the pagan priests along with the priests; those who bow in worship on the rooftops to the heavenly host; those who bow and pledge loyalty to the LORD but also pledge loyalty to Milcom; and those who turn back from following the LORD, who do not seek the LORD or inquire of Him. Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD, for the Day of the LORD is near. Indeed, the LORD has prepared a sacrifice; He has consecrated His guests. On the…  ( Click for more )

Then he sent out young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD. Moses took half the blood and set it in basins; the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. He then took the covenant scroll and read it aloud to the people. They responded, "We will do and obey everything that the LORD has commanded." - Exodus 24:5-7 HCSB

An elderly man who was hard of hearing went to get a medical checkup. After the usual tests, the doctor carefully explained his recommendations to the aged man, who nodded his…  ( Click for more )

How happy is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path of sinners, or join a group of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the LORD's instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. - Psalm 1:1-2 HCSB

It is good to have righteous friends because it is nearly impossible to not be influenced by those who are around us. We humans are such social creatures that we will take on the characteristics of the crowd within short order.

Go to a construction site and look at all the workers. Though they don’t wear uniforms, their dress is nearly uniform…  ( Click for more )

"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. A good man produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil man produces evil things from his storeroom of evil. - Matthew 12:33-35 HCSB

One man was griping to another about how he hated to go home after a late card game. “I have to go through all this rigmarole just to get to bed without an argument. I turn off the engine…  ( Click for more )

What should we say then? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life. For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection. For we know that our old self was…  ( Click for more )

For as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so our comfort overflows through Christ. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is experienced in the endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will share in the comfort. - 2 Corinthians 1:5-7 HCSB

A wise old elder was practicing the mitzvah of hospitality when one of his guests accidentally spilled wine on the tablecloth. Noticing his guest's embarrassment,…  ( Click for more )

Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, "How do you advise me to respond to these people?" They replied, "Today if you will be a servant to these people and serve them, and if you respond to them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever." - 1 Kings 12:6-7 HCSB

Studying the Scriptures late one night, a wise elder overheard the conversation of two paupers who were lodging in a side room. One asked the other, “Please accompany me to the well. I’m thirsty…  ( Click for more )

Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and above all that you may prophesy. For the person who speaks in another language is not speaking to men but to God, since no one understands him; however, he speaks mysteries in the Spirit. But the person who prophesies speaks to people for edification, encouragement, and consolation. The person who speaks in another language builds himself up, but he who prophesies builds up the church. I wish all of you spoke in other languages, but even more that you prophesied. The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in languages,…  ( Click for more )

For now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known. Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. - 1 Corinthians 13:12-13 HCSB

Many Christians will make bold statements about what God would or would not do on any given occasion. They confidently state that a certain hurricane was God’s judgment on a sinful city, or that certain towers fell because of our nation’s sin.

Others muse, “I think a God of love would not condemn anyone to…  ( Click for more )

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. – Hebrews 11:8

There once was an old tzaddik who was often entranced by his love for the Lord. One summer evening, he was delving deeply into a scriptural text and while pacing about the room, he didn’t notice that his pacing had caused him to step outside. He continued down the street, meditating on the Word, and actually ended up in a nearby town, about two or three miles away.

In that town, another…  ( Click for more )

Look to the mountains--the feet of one bringing good news and proclaiming peace! Celebrate your festivals, Judah; fulfill your vows. For the wicked one will never again march through you; he will be entirely wiped out. - Nahum 1:15 HCSB

God’s people were threatened by the Assyrians, a shockingly cruel and vindictive people. A generation before, Jonah had warned the Assyrians at Nineveh of God’s displeasure and they mended their ways for a time.[1] However, they failed to pass the message on to their children who restarted the old wicked ways.

They began conquering…  ( Click for more )

Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, since you are unleavened. For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old yeast, or with the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. - 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 HCSB

In Africa, there are many strange and splendid creatures. I used to have a pet chimpanzee named Julius who would go to church, sit on the pew (a log with the top shaved flat) and sing with the rest of us. I owned a miniature antelope, called a Dik Dik, that would knock on the…  ( Click for more )

Jesus replied, "I assure you: Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." - John 3:3 HCSB

Mbuzi was a very beautiful goat who was as vain as she was beautiful. Out of vanity, she decided to ask the wily Kachi, a chimpanzee who lived in a huge Baobab tree, how to become a lion. After much thought and great scratching of fleas, Kachi gave her the “Five Rules of Transmogrification”: (1) do what lions do; (2) say what lions say; (3) eat what lions eat; (4) wear what lions wear; and finally (5) go where lions go.

Mbuzi was very excited…  ( Click for more )

Don't be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the Devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will have tribulation for 10 days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. - Revelation 2:10 HCSB

My parents were missionaries in a country called Chad on the continent of Africa. They served there several years, establishing churches, starting a seminary, founding several elementary and high schools, and building dispensaries. They did nothing to harm the people and everything they could to help them. They tried to teach them…  ( Click for more )

May he (the king) vindicate the afflicted among the people, help the poor, and crush the oppressor. - Psalm 72:4 HCSB

At some point in their lives, nearly every Christian wonders how to reconcile the innermost feeling that justice demands retribution and the biblical passages that teach we should leave vengeance to God and turn the other cheek. What is the Scriptural view the Ransomed should take on retribution, self-defense and war?

First, you have to realize that much of the Old Testament still applies to us. Jesus came to fulfill the Sinaitic Law, not abrogate it.[1]…  ( Click for more )

Therefore don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. - Matthew 6:34 HCSB

There once was an old man who lived in a small village. He was very poor and had one son that he loved very much. All they owned (besides the house they lived in) was a horse. It wasn’t much of a horse, but it was theirs and it helped them by carrying the firewood they would gather and sell.

One day there was a great storm and in its panic over the lightning, the horse kicked down part of the fence and ran away. The next day the…  ( Click for more )

Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. - John 14:6 HCSB

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Hell? Early Egyptians referred to it as Tuat, situated under the earth. The ancient Greeks considered this lower world to be the realm of spirits. The Jews said that Hell originated just south of Jerusalem, where the filth and the wicked dead were cast out and burned. Italian poet Dante fancied this nether world to be a temporary Inferno several steps beneath Paradise. The Nation of Islam, led…  ( Click for more )

"This is why I tell you: Don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky: they don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they? Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don't labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned…  ( Click for more )

"Fill the jars with water," Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim. Then He said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the chief servant." And they did. When the chief servant tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from--though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom and told him, "Everybody sets out the fine wine first, then, after people have drunk freely, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now." - John 2:7-10 HCSB

Transforming the water into wine was Jesus’…  ( Click for more )

For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment. So don't be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me His prisoner. Instead, share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God - 2 Timothy 1:7-8 HCSB

Upton Diskson founded a society called the “Dependent Order of Really Meek and Timid Souls.” When you make an acrostic of its first letters, you have “Doormats.” The Doormats’ insignia is a yellow caution light. Their official motto is: “The meek shall inherit the earth, if that’s…  ( Click for more )

What should I bring before the LORD when I come to bow before God on high? Should I come before Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand streams of oil? Should I give my firstborn for my transgression, the child of my body for my own sin? He has told you men what is good and what it is the LORD requires of you: Only to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God. – Micah 6:6-8 HCSB

Moses was certainly a virtuous man. There is much in him to admire and imitate. For one thing,…  ( Click for more )

“I always pray for you, and I make my requests with a heart full of joy because you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now.” Philippians 1:4-5

You may not be gifted as a missionary. You may never have to face the danger of martyrdom. It’s not everyone’s task to face the devil in his lair and send him packing through the power of the Holy Spirit. You may spend the entirety of your life safely within the confines of the state or county in which you were born. But you can take part in the great…  ( Click for more )